


The peacefulness of the infinite

by anamia



Category: Doctor Who, Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Every Century Happy, F/M, Fluff, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-14
Updated: 2013-06-14
Packaged: 2017-12-14 23:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/842820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anamia/pseuds/anamia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Odd, really, that out of all the impossibilities surrounding her these days it should be the constant presence of friendly company that is the hardest to grasp."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The peacefulness of the infinite

**Author's Note:**

> A contribution to the [Every Century Happy](http://amisdelespace.tumblr.com/) project, which everyone should check out. More details are at the link, but the gist of the project is that the Amis+however many other LM characters we want have found the TARDIS and go on adventures and there are happy endings and no one dies.

She doesn’t remember much of her childhood, but she thinks perhaps she did not have friends. There is a feeling in the corner of her mind when she looks at the people who now surround her, a sense that this is entirely new. Certainly at the convent she had no true friends merely companions, pampered daughters of rich families who looked down at her disdainfully for her humble background and had never done a day’s work in her life. Cosette wanted little to do with them, preferring solitude to their prim and judgmental company. She climbed trees instead, feeling coarse bark against her skin and sunshine on her face, or explored the gardens her father tended so carefully, finding hiding holes and secluded corners in which to be alone. The loud bell marking the hours never failed to make her jump, even after several years, and the sudden fright was always easier to bear when she did not have to explain herself.

There are noises here too, loud bursts of laughter and the whirring of machines and the sound of boots running on metal floors. Cosette is surrounded by people, surrounded by _friends_ , and she is no longer a frightened child who flinches at unexpected sounds, but the strangeness of the situation has yet to abate completely. Odd, really, that out of all the impossibilities surrounding her these days it should be the constant presence of friendly company that is the hardest to grasp.

She wanders the halls of the TARDIS, running a hand along warm metal with a smile on her face. The ship’s quiet humming as it travels through the universe soothes her, reminding her of a giant cat purring contentedly all around her. Cosette has always loved cats.

Courfeyrac finds her one evening sitting with her back pressed against the ship wall, a book in her hands that she is only pretending to read. He grins and drops to a seat next to her, sprawling out contentedly. Courfeyrac too is like a cat, and Cosette has no difficulty understanding why Marius considers this man his best friend. She smiles at him.

“Reading again?” Courfeyrac teases, still grinning. “We’ll start calling you Feuillette at this rate.”

Cosette laughs. “All the literature of the universe at our disposal and you blame us for being curious?” she asks.

“Certainly not,” he assures her. “But books aren’t the only mysteries now opened to us. Have you spent time with the engines yet?”

She shakes her head. “Mechanics are not my area of expertise,” she says. “I would only be in the way.”

He frowns ever so slightly, just as he does every time she implies that she might be unwanted somewhere. “Nonsense. You should come look sometime; it’s quite magnificent to see. Combeferre is enraptured by it all, and even our Marius was enthralled.”

She laughs, liking his use of the plural. “I shall have to take a look,” she says.

He grins again, jumping to his feet and extending a hand to help her up. “The stars are too nice right now to sit here,” he says. “Come read near the door, at least.”

She accepts his hand and rises gracefully, pale blue skirt falling into place as she stands. It took a while for her to adjust to these shorter, lighter clothes, but she has grown to like them immensely. The way Marius looks at her when she brushes past him certainly does not hurt.

Courfeyrac does not let go of her hand as he leads her through the halls. She lets herself be led, book tucked under one arm.

“Are we headed towards any particular destination?” she asks as they walk. “Or have they decided to allow the TARDIS to choose our location again?”

“Combeferre says he’ll try to direct us to somewhere warm this time,” Courfeyrac says. “But Enjolras is not certain that she will cooperate.”

“I shall brace myself for more blizzards then,” Cosette says with a laugh. The TARDIS has already become notorious for having a mind of her own, one that even Enjolras, her favorite of them all by far, cannot always sway. She senses trouble seemingly anywhere in the universe and directs them to it almost without fail, throwing them into tense situations without a second thought. Cosette thinks that she does it as much to watch Enjolras rise to the occasion as to provide aid where it’s needed.

“At least you’re provided with appropriate cold-weather gear,” Courfeyrac says. “The last time it snowed I was forced to put on that horrible grey coat, do you recall?” He shudders at the memory of the, admittedly excessively puffy, garment. “I still do not believe Enjolras when he insisted that it was appropriate to the culture. I refuse to accept that I live in a universe where such things are considered fashionable.”

Cosette raises her eyebrows slightly. “You will accept intelligent alien entities and travel through time but not differing aesthetic standards?” she wants to know.

He sniffs, putting on a look of wounded dignity that he never can quite pull off. “My dear Cosette, a gentleman must have _some_ standards,” he says, and then ruins the moment by laughing. “And I’ve always had my doubts about Musichetta’s species. It seems to me like no human could be simultaneously as good humored and as frightening as she.”

“Watch that she doesn’t catch you saying that,” Cosette says. “She still has Marius frightened.”

“Marius startles easily,” Courfeyrac counters, and Cosette concedes the point with a nod and a laugh.

He steers her into the main consul room and pauses by the controls to fiddle with the TARDS’ energy protections. Unlike Enjolras and Combeferre, Courfeyrac hasn’t the faintest idea how to fly the TARDIS, but he has learned to open the main door without killing them all. They were all taught to do that after Prouvaire nearly created a disaster in his haste to see the universe up close. Only the TARDIS herself prevented it, and Prouvaire found himself missing one sock out of each pair he owned for the next two weeks as she expressed her displeasure.

The doors swing open silently and Courfeyrac draws Cosette to a seat next to him, their legs dangling into the blackness of space as they watch the stars swirl to their own tune before them. Cosette sets her book down and leans her head on Courfeyrac’s shoulder, smile still on her face. He winds an arm around her waist and they sit in silence, enjoying the company and the majestic display. Twenty minutes or so later Marius finds them and sits down on Cosette’s other side, taking one of her hands in his and bringing it to his lips. She turns her smile towards him, curling a foot around one of his and Courfeyrac reaches out to clasp his shoulder. The three of them sit side by side, absorbing the beauty before them in contented silence.


End file.
